Warnen, Gender, Religion: AReader

Warnen, Gender, Religion: AReader

Edited by Elizabeth A. Castelli with the assistance cf Rosamond C. Rodman

palgrave

* WOMEN, GENDER, RELIGION: AREADER

© Elizabeth A. Castelli, 2001

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

First published by PALGRAVpM 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Companies and representatives throughout the world

PALGRAVE is the new global publishing imprint of St. Martin's Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd).

ISBN 978-0-312-24030-1 ISBN 978-1-137-04830-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-04830-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Women, gender, religion: areader / edited by Elizabeth A. Castelli with the assistance of Rosamond C. Rodman.

p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Women and religion. 2. Feminism-Religious aspects. 3. Sex role­Religious aspects. 1. Castelli, Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Anne), 1958-11. Rodman, Rosamond C.

BL458 . W5767 2001 200' .82-dc21 2001021830

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design by Westchester Book Composition

First edition: September 2001 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Transferred to digital printing in 2007.

Ta

Judith Weisenfeld Angela Zito

Karen McCarthy Brown Mary McGee Susan Shapiro

Collcagucs who havc gcncrousl)' sharcd thcir considcrablc intcllcctual gijts) thcir rich scholari)' and pcdagogical accomplishmcnts)

and thcir valuablc fricndship. This book is dcdicatcd to thcm in gratitudc and admiration.

Contents

AcknowlcdJ;mcnts

Permissions Crcdits

Introduction

1 Elizabeth A. Castelli, "Women, Gender, Religion: Troubling Categories and Transfonning Knowledge"

Part I: Categories of Analysis and Critique: "Gender, " "Religion," "Fell1inisll1"

2 Miriam Peskowitz, "What's in a Name? Exploring the Dimensions of What 'Feminist Studies in Religion' Means" (1995)

3 Carol P. Christ, "Weaving the Fabric of Our Lives" (1997)

4 Miriam Peskowitz, "Unweaving: A Response to Carol P. Christ" (1997)

5 Carol P. Christ, "Reweaving" (2001)

6 Donna J. Haraway, " 'Gender' for a Marxist Dictionary: The Sexual Politics of a Word" (1991)

7 Oyer6nk~ Oyewuml, "The Translation of Cultures: Engendering Yorubi Language, Orature, and World-Sense" (1997)

8 Robert A. Orsi, "Snakes Alive: Resituating the Moral in the Study of Religion" (1998)

Xl

XlII

3

29

34

40

46

49

76

98

Vl11 Contcnts

9 Minoo Moallem, "Transnationalism, Feminism, and Fundamentalism" (1999) 119

Part 11: Origins, Identities, and Appropriations

10 Mieke BaI, "Sexuality, Sin, and Sorrow: The Emergence of the Female Character" (1987) 149

11 Nancy Jay, "Sacrifice as Remedy for Having Been Born of WOlllan" (1985) 174

12 Zakia Pathak and Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, " 'Shahbano' " (1989) 195

13 Helene P Foley, "A Question of Origins: Goddess Cults Greek and Modern" (1994) 216

14 Laura E. DonaIdson, "On Medicine Women and White Shallle-ans: New Age Native Alllericanism and COllllllOdity Fetishislll as Pop Culture Feminislll" (1999) 237

Part 111: Gender and Religions Experience: Interdisciplinary Approaches

15 Carolyn Dinshaw, "Margery Kempe Answers Back" (1999) 257

16 Joy Dixon, "Sexology and the Occult: Sexuality and Subjectivity in Theosophy's New Age" (1997) 288

17 Katherine Clay Bassard, "Rituals of Desire: Spirit, Culture, and Sexuality in the Writings of Rebecca Cox Jackson" (1999) 310

18 Yoram Bilu, "The Woman Who Wanted to Be Her Father: A Case Analysis of Dybbuk-Possession in a Hasidic Community" (1985) 331

19 Aihwa Ong, "The Production of Possession: Spirits and the Multinational Corporation in Malaysia" (1988) 346

Part IV: Gender, Religion, and Body Politics

20 Jonah Steinberg, "Frolll a 'Pot of Filth' to a 'Hedge of Roses' (and Back): Changing Theorizations of Menstruation in Judaislll" (1997) 369

21 Mary Rose D' Angelo, "Veils, Virgins, and the Tongues of Men and Angels: Women's Heads in Early Christianity" (1995)

22 Homa Hoodfar, "The Veil in Their Minds and on Our Heads: Veiling Practices and Muslim Women" (1997)

23 Clara Connolly and Pragna Patel, "Women Who Walk on Water: Working across 'Race' in Women Against Fundamentalism" (1997)

24 Patricia Jeffery, "Agency, Activism, and Agendas" (1998)

25 Linda Kintz, "Tender Warriors" (1997)

26 Janet R. Jakobsen and Arm Pellegrini, "Getting Religion" (1999)

Part V: Gender and Religion in the Politics of the Acadell1Y

27 Judith Plaskow, "The Academy as Real Life: New Participants and Paradigms in the Study of Religion" (1999)

Contributors

Contents IX

389

420

447

465

492

518

531

547

Acknowledgments

This volume has come into being because of the generosity of many people. First and foremost, the authors who have graciously agreed to have their work reprinted in this volume deserve special mention. Their trust in our project has been an expression of collegiality, friendship, and good faith, and we hope that they will be pleased with the finished product. We would like to express our special thanks to Carol P. Christ, who wrote "Reweavings" in particular for this volume, and to Carolyn Dinshaw, who entrusted us with the task of excerpting her essay, "Margery Kempe Answers Back."We are also enormously grateful to Gayatri Patnaik, our editor at Palgrave. Gayatri has been an enthusiastic supporter of this project from our very first correspon­dence and conversations about the book. She has been an intellectual partner in the conversations concerning the project, its potential audiences, and its contribution to the field. She has also been a wonderful advocate for us, and the model of professionalism and efficiency on all matters practical. We want to express our thanks to her.

Numerous other people have also played important roles in this book's pro­duction. The two anonymous readers who reviewed the book proposal offered cogent critiques and very welcome encouragement for the volume, and we are grateful for the careful work they did on behalf of this project. Tynisha Rue, the secretary of the Barnard Departments of Religion, Classics, and Spanish, helped generously with several important tasks in the preparation of the pro­posal and the manuscript itself. Randall Styers, Rosamond Rodman, and Erin Runions were gracious readers of the book's introduction; their comments and criticisms have without question improved the final product. On a more practicallevel, Barnard College supported this project with a generous faculty research mini-grant, which helped to defray a portion of the costs for reprint permissions. Special thanks to Anne Klarer of the Provost's Office for strate­gic advice during the preparation of this grant proposal. Finally, the many edi­tors, permissions specialists, and other professional staff at the presses and

XlI Acknowledgments

journals with whom we worked were extremely helpful and cooperative. We are grateful for their efforts in granting permission to republish the materials that appear in this volume.

This volume has been a co11aborative project from start to finish, and as its editor, I would be remiss if I did not articulate my personal appreciation and gratitude to Rosamond Rodman, who has worked with me on the project from the very beginning. The volume came into its current form because of our reading, discussing, arguing, conceptualizing, and refining together. From the chaotic first days in the library together, pu11ing volumes from the shelves and photocopying essays for possible inclusion in the volume, to the final (and, thanks to her efforts, less chaotic) days of preparing the manuscript for sub­mission, the book has benefited from Rosamond's many gifts: her inte11ectual clarity, her contagious energy, her eye for detail, and her tireless wi11ingness to take on tasks both great and sma11. The book is truly the fruit of our co11abor­ation, and it has provided us with both the cha11enges and the rewards that working together affords. I am certain that this book is the better for Rosa­mond's work on its behalf, and I want to honor her efforts, her labor, and her fu11 partnership in this project.

Permissions credits

Mieke BaI, "Sexuality, Sin, and Sorrow: The En'lergence of the Female Character," Lcthal Love: Feminist Literary Readings of Biblical Love Stories, pp. 104-30. Published by Indiana University Press. Copyright 1987, Mieke BaI.

Bassard, Katherine Chy, "Rituals of Desire: Spirit, Culture, and Sexuality in the Writ­ings of Rebecca Cox Jackson," from SPIRITUAL INTERROCATIONS: CUL­TURE, CENDER, AND COMMUNITY IN EARLY AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN' S WRITING. Copyright © 1999 by Katherine Chy Bassard. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press.

Yoram Bilu, "The Wonun Who Wanted to Be Her Father: A Case Analysis of Dyb­buk-Possession in a Hasidic Community," Journal of Psychoanalytic Anthropology 8:1 (Winter 1985): 11-27. Reprinted with permission from author and publisher.

Carol P. Christ, "Weaving the Fabric of Our Lives," Journal of Feminist Studies in Reli­gion 13:1 (1997): 131-6. Reprinted with permission from the author, thejournal, and the Society of Biblical Literature.

Clara Connolly and Pragna Patel, "Women Who Walk on Water: Working across 'Race' in Women Against Fundamentalism," The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital, ed. Lisa Lowe and David Lloyd, pp. 375-95. Copyright 1997, Duke Univer­sity Press. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Mary Rose D'Angelo, "Veils, Virgins, and the Tongues of Men and Angels," 0If with Her Head! The Denial of Women's Identity in Myth, Religion, and Culture, ed. Howard Eil­berg-Schwartz and Wendy Doniger, pp. 131-64. Copyright © 1995 The Regents of the University of California. Published by University of California Press.

Carolyn Dinshaw, "Margery Kempe Answers Back," Cetting lV1edieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern. Copyright 1999, Duke University Press. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

"Sexology and the Occult: Sexuality and Subjectivity in Theosophy's New Age" by Joy Dixon fromJoumal c:fthe History c:fSexuality 7:3, pp. 409-33. Copyright © 1997 by University of Texas Press. All rights reserved.

XIV Permissions credits

Laura E. Donaidson, "On Medicine Women and White Shame-ans: New Age Native Americanism and Commodity Fetishism as Pop Culture Feminism," Signs: Journal oI Women in Culture ami Society 1999, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 677-96. © by the University of Chicago.

Helene P Foley, "A Question of Origins: Goddess Cults Greek and Modern," Women's Studies 23 (1994): 193-215. Copyright OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N. V Permission to reprint was granted by Gordon and Breach Publisher.

Donna J. Haraway, " 'Gender' for a Marxist Dictionary: The Sexual Politics of a Word," from Simiam~ Cybo~({,~ ami Women: The Rcinvention oI Nature, published by Free Associ­ation Books, London, England in 1991. © Donna J. Haraway 1991.

Hon'la Hoodfar, "The Veil in Their Minds and on Our Heads: Veiling Practices and Muslim Women," The Politics of Cult~trC in the Shadow of Capital, ed. Lisa Lowe and David Lloyd, pp. 248-79. Copyright 1997, Duke University Press. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini, "Getting Religion," One Nation Under Cod? Religion and American Culture, ed. Marjorie Garber and Rebecca L. Walkowitz, pp. 101-14. Copyright 1999 by Routledge. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Frances, Inc., http://www.routledge-ny.com.

Nancy Jay, "Sacrifice as Remedy for Having Been Born of Woman," from Immaculate and Poweiful: The Female in Sacred Image and Sodal Reality, ed. Clarissa W Atkinson, Constance H. Buchanan, and Margaret R. Miles, pp. 283-309. Copyright © 1985 by Clarissa W Atkinson, Constance H. Buchanan, and Margaret R. Miles. Reprinted by permission of Beacon Press, Boston.

Patricia Jeffery, "Agency, Activism, and Agendas," Appropriating Cender: Women's Activism and Politidzed Rel~({ion in South Asia, ed. Patricia Jeffery and Amrita Basu, pp. 221-43. Copyright 1998 by Routledge. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Fran­cis, Inc., http://www.routledge-ny.com.

Linda Kintz, "Tender Warriors," Between Jesus and the lVlarket: The Emotions That lV1atter in Right- Wing America, pp. 111-39,283-86. Copyright 1997, Duke University Press. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Minoo Moallem, "Transnationalism, Feminism, and Fundamentalism," Between Woman and Nation: Nationalisms, Transnational Feminisms, and the State, ed. Norma Alarc6n, Caren Kaplan, and Minoo Moallem, pp. 320-48. Copyright 1999, Duke University Press. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Aihwa Ong, "The Production of Possession: Spirits and the Multinational Corpora­tion in Malaysia." Reproduced from the American Ethnologist 15 (1) 28-42, February 1988. Not for sale or further reproduction.

Robert A. Orsi, "Snakes Alive: Resituating the Moral in the Study of Religion," In Face oI the Facts: Moral Inquiry inAmerican Scholarship, ed. Richard Wightman Fox and Robert B. Westbrook, pp. 201-26. © The Woodrow Wilson Center International Center for Scholars 1998. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press.

Oyer6nk~ Oyewümi, "The Translation of Cultures: Engendering Yorübi Language, Orature, and World-Sense," The Invention r:fWomen: Making an African Sense ofWestern

Permissions credits xv

Cender Disco u rscs, pp. 157-79, 204-7. Published by University of Minnesota Press, 1997. Copyright 1997 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota.

Zakia Pathak and Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, " 'Shahbano,' " S~~ns:Journal ofWomen in Culture and Socicty 1989, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 558-82. © 1989 by the University of Chicago.

Miriam Peskowitz, "What's in a Name? Exploring the Din'lensions of What 'Feminist Studies in Religion' Means,"Journal ofFcminist Studics in Rcl~~ion 11:1 (1995): 111-15. Reprinted with permission from the author, the journal, and the Society of Biblical Literature.

Miriam Peskowitz, "Unweaving: AResponse to Carol P Christ," Journal of FC111inist Studies in Religion 13:1 (1997): 137-43. Reprinted with permission from the author, the journal, and the Society of Biblical Literature.

Judith Plaskow, "The Academy as Real Life: New Participants and Paradigms in the Study of Religion," Journal of thcA111ericanAcadc111Y o.f Rcl~~ion 67 (1999): 521-38. Reprint permission by Oxford University Press and the American Academy of Religion.

Jonah Steinberg, "From a 'Pot of Filth' to a 'Hedge of Roses' (and Back): Changing Theorizations of Menstruation in Judaism," Journal o.f Fcminist Studics in Rcl~~ion 13:2 (1997): 5-26. Reprinted with permission from the author, the journal, and the Soci­ety of Biblical Literature.